Matabuena

The first thing you notice is the cold. Even in late April the wind rolling off the Sierra de Guadarrama carries enough bite to pink cheeks within minutes. Matabuena sits at 1,155 metres, high enough for overnight frost to silver the terracotta tiles well into spring, yet low enough to feel the plateau’s dry heat by midday. Few British travellers make the two-hour dash north from Madrid airport to this Segovian hamlet of 204 souls, which is exactly why the thermometer, not the tourist office, sets the tone.

Stone, adobe and the sound of boots on grit

Most houses are built from the two materials the land provided: honey-coloured stone for the lower walls, adobe brick above. The mixture gives the streets a muted palette that photographs beautifully at first light, but it also explains why rooms stay at 12 °C even when the afternoon nudges 25 °C. Locals still heat with wood stoves; if you rent a village house for the weekend, check whether the price includes the first basket of logs (around €8 at the agricultural co-op in neighbouring Carbonero el Mayor).

A five-minute walk is enough to cover the grid of lanes that make up the centre. The only landmark is the parish church, its squat masonry tower visible from every approach road. Inside you’ll find no Baroque excess, just a single-nave barn finished in whitewash and a 17th-century pine pulpit scarred by centuries of boot scrapes. Mass is held at 11:00 on Sundays; visitors are welcome, but the priest delivers his sermon in rapid Castilian and the draft through the open door will test your coat.

Paths that remember sheep, not Strava

Matabuena’s real size lies outside the street plan. From the last houses a web of livestock tracks heads into rolling country of holm-oak and ash. These caminos reales still carry the occasional shepherd, but they’re mostly used by weekend hikers from Segovia who want elevation without the crowds of the nearby national park. A circular route to the abandoned cortijo of La Mata and back takes two and a half hours; the climb is gentle, yet the 250-metre gain is enough to open views across the entire Pedraza district. In May the meadows are flecked with wild peonies; by October the same ground is a rust-coloured carpet of fallen oak leaves and acorns that crunch like cornflakes underfoot.

Winter walking is possible – the province clears the main access road promptly after snow – but you’ll need traction soles. Night temperatures drop below –8 °C, and the wind can whip powdery snow through gaps in the stone walls. Summer, by contrast, is surprisingly mild; at 30 °C in Madrid the village often hovers at 24 °C, making it a cheap alternative to the Sierra resorts for families who don’t mind driving half an hour to the nearest swimming pool.

Roast lamb and the politics of the Segovian oven

Food here is altitude food: roast suckling lamb, judiones (giant white beans), and whatever wild mushrooms appear after rain. The closest restaurant is in Rebollo, 7 km away, so most visitors self-cater. The small supermarket on Plaza de la Constitución stocks locally made morcilla spiced with onion and cumin; wrap it in foil, bake it in the wood oven that most rental houses retain, and you’ll understand why Segovians refuse to eat the blood sausage anywhere else. Budget around €18 per kilo for the lamb (order a day ahead from the butcher in Carbonero) and remember that village ovens heat slowly: allow two hours from lighting to cooking temperature.

If you’d rather be fed, drive the winding A-601 to Pedraza (20 minutes). The medieval walled town has two restaurants with Michelin recognition, but at weekends coach parties from Madrid clog the cobbles. Book early, or eat midweek when the same chefs offer a menú del día for €22 – half the evening price.

Where to sleep, and why you’ll need a car

There is no hotel in Matabuena. Tourism beds are limited to a handful of casas rurales, all converted village houses with stone staircases, low beams and patchy Wi-Fi. Casa El Arroyal, on the lane leading down to the seasonal stream, sleeps five and has a plunge pool just big enough to cool ankles after a hike. Expect to pay €120–€140 a night for the whole house, plus a €30 cleaning fee that doubles if you leave ash in the sitting room. Mobile reception is Vodafone-only indoors; other networks work on the church steps – the village’s unofficial hotspot.

Public transport is non-existent. The weekday bus that once linked Pedraza with Segovia was axed in 2021, so a hire car is essential. From Madrid Barajas take the A-1 north to Arévalo, then the N-110 towards Ávila; the turn-off is signposted “Matabuena 6 km” but the road narrows to a single track, so pray you don’t meet a tractor on the blind bend. In winter carry snow chains – the last kilometre is shaded and ices over first.

Festivals, frost and the exodus that shaped the place

The village calendar revolves around two dates: the fiesta patronal around 15 August, when emigrants return and the population quadruples, and the Día de la Matanza in February, when locals still slaughter a pig in the traditional way. Visitors are sometimes invited to help stir the huge pot of chorizos; if you accept, bring work gloves and an apron you’re happy to bin afterwards. The fiesta is warmer but noisier: brass bands play until 3 a.m. and every balcony sprouts red-and-yellow bunting. Book accommodation a year ahead if you insist on August; otherwise come in late September, when the nights are cool enough for comfortable sleep and the fig trees along the lanes offer free dessert.

Honesty requires a footnote: Matabuena will never compete with the tile-work of Andalucía or the wine routes of La Rioja. Parts of the village are plainly tatty: roofs sag, shutters hang at drunken angles, and the younger generation has left for Valladolid or Madrid. Yet that erosion is also the story. Between the frosted stone and the half-empty grain stores you see, unvarnished, how Spain’s high plateau has lived for centuries. Bring a warm jumper, a car and reasonable Spanish – then let the altitude do the rest.